Hi, I’m Iwan de Vries

VISION

As an entrepreneurial designer I feel most at home when I can work from a first person perspective. In this it does not matter to me whether I simply see a business opportunity or if I experience or see a problem that needs a solution, as long as I am intrinsically nourished by an idea, this motivates me many times more than when I work out someone else’s vision. When working from a first person perspective it is very important to validate that you are not the only one who has a particular need, which is why I believe that doing good user-testing and thereby validating your proposition is very important in order to create value for the largest amount of people.

Although I have a background as a product designer, I am generally interested in technological innovations in all areas. Nevertheless, over the years I have learned that I get the most pleasure from working with physical products. When designing, I like to think of products or services in a holistic way, taking into account both the functionality and aesthetics of a product, as well as its economic feasibility as a value proposition, which requires it to fulfill a certain need for its potential users. With the idea that all of these parts are equally important, I would rather call myself a generalist than a specialist. I believe that a good generalist designer has the power to gather the right experts around them, and can collect the necessary knowledge from them by asking the right questions so that they know exactly enough about a particular technology to make a product work.

One of the reasons I like to work from a first-person perspective is the fact that I tend to have fairly strong opinions. I believe this is both a blessing and a curse, as sometimes it can help me push through when I really believe in my idea, but it can also be a problem when I am so focused on one perspective that I close myself off from other people’s opinions and ideas. I do however believe that by being aware of this and how this can also be limiting, I am able to stay open to new ideas and visions.

As already described in my professional identity, as a designer I prefer to focus on physical, and therefore three-dimensional products. As an entrepreneur I strive to add value to the lives of as many people as possible through beautiful and functional products. I do this on the basis of the following principles in which I believe.

FUNCTION FOLLOWS FORM
Whether it is through an advertisement on social media, in a store or on a website, the first contact with a physical product is almost always visual. That is why I believe that visually drawing a potential customer’s attention is the most important aspect of getting them interested and leading them to a possible purchase. Of course everyone has their own idea of what is beautiful, but in general I believe that for something to be beautiful, good proportions are the most important. Furthermore, I believe that excess frills that do not contribute to the functionality of a product always negatively affect its beauty. Although I like to design from a first person perspective, I do believe that it is always important to test whether a product is liked by the target audience. For this, I generally consider testing with real people to be the best, since taste is something that changes over time.

FUNCTIONALITY SHOULD BE INTUITIVE
If the form of a product is right, the next challenge is to let the functionality speak for itself. I don’t like it when products have infinitely complex functions that all need explanation, and I am convinced that through good design a product can work intuitively for its user in a minimalist way. This is not to say that I do not find complex systems interesting, on the contrary, I rather see it as a challenge to translate the layer on top of a complex system to the user in such a way that it is seen as intuitive and easy to understand.

SUSTAINABILITY THROUGH DURABILITY
I believe that today it is no longer possible to deny that we as a world population are draining our planet of its resources, and that this is not a sustainable situation. Because I don’t think it is ethical to reduce the amount of people who consume, I believe we should try to ensure that the consumption per person decreases. Unfortunately, we also live in a world where endless growth of companies is pursued. This is part of the reason there are many products being produced at a low price, that have a short lifespan due to the low quality that goes with it. This creates a lot of waste and pollution, which is bad for our planet. That is why I think we as designers should focus on designing products that have a long lifespan due to high build quality and ease of repair. While this will result in a higher initial purchase value, I believe it will often lead to a lower total cost of ownership, but more importantly a decrease in our consumption of resources.

From an early age I have been someone whose homework was always surrounded by all kinds of drawings, mainly of cars. This, in combination with my preference for beta subjects in high school, made my choice for a bachelor in Industrial Product Design not entirely illogical. Here I learned how to design products from start to finish, including concept development, material science, production techniques and CAD modelling. However, during this bachelor I was also very active in the student association of which I was a member, where I was in several committees, and also did a board year. Here I soon found out that a leadership role was something that suited me.

During my internship and graduation project I then learned that I was more at home working on my own ideas than that of someone else, which quickly led me to the idea that I eventually want to run my own business. However, I had no knowledge on how to start one at all, and I knew little to no people who did have this knowledge. So when I heard about the Industrial Design master, and the Design Leadership & Entrepreneurship track in particular, this was a logical next step for me. Here I hoped to gather enough knowledge to give me the confidence that I could start a business. What kind of business this should be, was yet to be determined.